With its forced grading curve, law school is infamously competitive. But when she started at BYU Law in her thirties, returning to the university as a mother with two degrees already under her belt, Carly Madsen decided that rankings wouldn’t define her achievement.
“Like most students here, I’ve received a lot of validation over the years for my academic success, and that is really setting yourself up for an identity crisis in law school,” said Madsen. “I knew that I was coming here to do something very different, to help people feel a sense of belonging.”
Over the past three years, Madsen found many opportunities to support others. During summers, she interned with the public defender office in Utah County, helping individuals with substance abuse and mental health issues navigate the legal system. She has loved defending the Constitutional rights of marginalized people and connecting clients with social workers and treatment providers who can help them improve their lives.
This last year, she also served as president of two BYU Law student clubs, Women in Law and the Government and Politics Legal Society, organizing events that brought sometimes hundreds of people together to talk about important issues and motivate them to act.
“Carly Madsen is a force of nature who lifts and inspires those around her to be and do better,” said BYU Law Associate Dean Michalyn Steele. “She is an effective leader and listener, but even more so, she is a connector. I think she has never met a stranger. Her gifts will bless many lives in the years ahead.”
“It’s not just the religion classes I took in undergrad or the devotionals. It’s the subtle, quiet ways that professors share their faith and the conversations you have with friends where we explore what our faith means to us and how we can become better people.”
Madsen’s investment in building others up stems in part from her own circuitous route to law school, a goal she first set her sights on in the seventh grade when her drama teacher assigned the class to prepare for a mock trial.
“Over that weekend, I pored over the documents, thinking, ‘Justice is on my side, I am going to win this case!’ I think I’ve always had a strong sense of righteous indignation,” Madsen said. “When we went back to school the next week, nobody else had done anything about it, and the teacher decided to scrap the whole thing. So I never got my day in court. But that was the thing that made me realize, I love this.”
After she completed her BYU political science undergraduate degree in 2015, though, Madsen felt unsure about pursuing law school. She didn’t have an extensive network, didn’t know many attorneys and didn’t see many women balancing work, family and faith the way she wanted to.
She did know she wanted to work in public service, so she enrolled at the Marriott School for a Master of Public Administration degree. She studied the obstacles that discourage women from political leadership both in her MPA program and through internships in Thailand, where she’d also served her mission. Madsen was ready to jump in and make a difference when she and her husband, Spencer, later moved to Washington, D.C.
“It was interesting to be part of research on why women aren’t participating, but after a while, I was a lot keener on just helping women do it,” Madsen said.
In D.C., Madsen worked for the nonprofit Running Start, training young women on how to run for political office. When she and Spencer moved back to Utah with their one-year-old in tow and she was admitted to BYU Law, Madsen’s experiences had given her a sharp focus.
“For me the events I helped plan in law school, they’re not just parties — they’re experiences where people make connections and see themselves like I was unable to see myself in 2015,” Madsen said. “We put women in a position to see other women who have done what they want to. Their paths have been very different, and yours can be, too. Seeing that helps you become it. Eventually, I really hope this shows my daughter that she can pursue the passions she has and do good, hard things.”
Madsen, who plans to continue working in public defense after she graduates in April, said BYU’s emphasis on service and environment of faith have supported her in her goals through all three of her BYU degrees.
“BYU has been a very welcoming space where I feel like I have become a better disciple of Christ,” she said. “It’s not just the religion classes I took in undergrad or the devotionals. It’s the subtle, quiet ways that professors share their faith and the conversations you have with friends where we explore what our faith means to us and how we can become better people.”
